Kingdom Hearts: Another Path
by Critter S
Summary: AU. What if Terra's sentiment never fought Xehanort? What if Ventus never defeated Vanitas? What if Aqua was still in the Realm of Light? The answers are revealed in this alternate ending to BBS and the adventure that follows. Some OCs.
1. Chapter 1

_Kingdom Hearts: Another Path_

Hello! This is this first story I am submitting to this site. After years of reading other writers' stories online, I'm finally going to start submitting mine. And what better way to start than with a story of one of my favorite video game series. Well, that's enough of my excitement. Let's get this show on the road!

Disclaimer: I do not own _Kingdom Hearts_. Credit goes to Square Enix and Disney. The OCs and most of the plot are mine.

Prologue - What Went Wrong

There are many possibilities that exist in the universe. Some have good outcomes, while others are not so fortunate. The following tale derives from an event in which the outcomes change…but not for the better.

Xehanort's blade clashed to the ground as he took in deep breaths from the battle that had passed. Terra walked up to him slowly to prepare the final blow with his keyblade. However, something had prevented him; a flash of light followed by an earthquake. Xehanort recovered himself and saw a sight behind Terra.

"Ah! At last!"

Terra turned around and saw what was transpiring. A towering inferno of red light shot upward into the sky.

"The X-blade has finally been forged!" shouted Xehanort.

"No! Ven!"

Xehanort got up and raised his blade to his chest.

"Now, it is our turn, Terra!"

Terra turned around and saw Xehanort press the blade into his chest. An orb containing his heart floated out of his body.

"Xehanort! What are you doing?"

"Something that I have waited a long time for. This vessel's time is over. Now I have a new, perfect vessel."

"Vessel?"

"I swore that I would survive and see what awaits beyond the Keyblade War. And now, thanks to your darkness, you shall become the new me!"

The orb then flew towards Terra, who was pressing a patch of armor on his shoulder quickly. However, as soon as the armor covered him, a dark aura surrounded his body. He struggled to prevent the force inside him from taking control as Xehanort's body slowly dissipated into the air.

The armor fell off and the keyblade Terra had used dropped to the ground. Where Terra stood, there is now a different person; he had white hair and yellow eyes.

"And so this heart belongs again to darkness. All worlds began in darkness, and all so end. The heart is no different. Darkness sprouts within it. It grows, consumes it. Such is its nature. In the end, every heart will return to the darkness from whence it came."

The blade that Xehanort used appeared in his hand. He then turned around to the armor and keyblade that belonged to Terra.

"Pitiful weakling. You never stood a chance against my power. I will choke the life out of your friends and drown the universe in darkness. Then, we shall see a new world born from that darkness, and I will create that world in my image. Thy will be done!"

He walked toward the edge of the cliff and jumped to the lower ground, however, he found nothing was there.

"This cannot be. The X-blade was here! WHERE IS IT?"

. . . . .

Aqua woke up and found herself in a bed, covered in bandages. When she tried to move, she felt pain all over her body. She also heard voices on the other side of the door. She got up slowly and walked toward the door, enduring through the pain and listening in on the conversation.

"I'm sorry, master, but we failed. Xehanort has won."

"The stars grow restless Mickey. I sense that darkness is spreading from that wretched graveyard. How could this have happened?"

"Terra gave into the darkness and was taken over by Xehanort. Ventus has been corrupted by Vanitas as well, but thanks to Aqua, he's in a deep sleep in another realm. It took a lot out of her."

"Ah, yes. The technique to put those of darkness to a deep sleep. Eraqus received that technique from our master, and now it seems he passed that onto Aqua."

"Could we do the same to Xehanort?"

"I'm afraid not. With Terra's darkness, he is stronger than he was before, even stronger than Vanitas. I fear nothing will stop the coming storm."

"No…" said Aqua to herself. She checked herself to find something, until she saw what she was looking for on a dresser nearby. It was a star shaped ornament on a chain. She grabbed it and looked at it for a moment, remembering her friends.

"No. This can't end."

She then burst out of the room, startling Mickey and gaining Yen Sid's attention.

"Aqua!" said Mickey. "You should be resting!"

"I'm fine, Your Majesty. Master Yen Sid, may I speak?"

"You may," said Yen Sid.

"We can't give up," she said. "There's still us and others out there filled with light. And with Vanitas trapped in sleep, we may have a chance. We have to fight back."

"Aqua…" said Mickey.

"Like the old legend of the Keyblade War said, light fought against the darkness. If Xehanort is the darkness, then we'll be the light that fights back."

Yen Sid pondered this for a moment.

"Thou hast said true words, fair warrior. Very well, we must find those with enough light in their hearts to counter the darkness."

Aqua and Mickey nodded in response.

"Mickey, return home and find suitable candidates."

"Yes, sir," said Mickey. "There's one world I've been to with a reliable companion. I'll seek his help, too."

"Aqua. You will do the same throughout the worlds after you've fully recovered."

"Thank you Master."

"I pray that the universe will not be completely covered in darkness by then."

"It won't Master. I promise."

As Aqua went back into the room to rest, she looked at her charm.

"Terra…Ven…I'm sorry that all of this happened. I'll set everything right. I promise."

A/N: Well, that's the prologue! I appreciate your reading my story and your reviews. This is the first story I submitted, so I hope this chapter went well! If it's small, I apologize. I always think of prologues having less material than the main chapters. It'll take a while for the next chapter to come, but I'll do the best I can. Until next time!


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Sorry it took so long. Did some job hunting, relaxing, and some proofreading. Here's Chapter 1!

Chapter 1

_I don't know how or why this happened, but it did, and now my life has changed because of it. It all started when I was four…_

"Wake up, Sora!"

A young boy with brown spiky hair awoke with a start staring up at another boy with silver short hair.

"Oh, hey Riku."

"Come on, you lazy bum. We gotta get back home."

"Yeah. Yeah. I know."

Just as the two were walking toward the boat, Sora just remembered something.

"Hey, Riku?"

"Yeah?"

"Who WAS that person you were talking to the other day?'

"Nobody."

"He seemed…different…didn't he? Like he's not from around here?"

"How should I know?"

"You were the one talking to him! You SHOULD know!"

"It's none of your business, Sora! I'm not supposed to talk about it!"

"Why not? We're best friends!"

Riku remained silent and wore a concerned look.

"Look, Sora. Sometimes people keep secrets, even if it's from their own friends. I'm sorry, Sora. I can't tell you."

"Riku…"

"Kids! Come on! Time to leave!"

The boys slowly walked toward where Sora's father was and rode the boat back to the main island.

. . . . .

Later on that night, Sora slept in his bed with difficulty. He kept thinking about his argument with Riku. Why would people keep secrets from each other, especially best friends? What's the point of being friends if you don't share what was going on with them?

As these thoughts raced through his mind, a rumbling sound was heard throughout the island. Sora awoke with a start when a flash of lightning was made and looked outside his window. A dark storm cloud was coming from the horizon and spreading over the islands.

"What's going on?" Sora said as the clouds got closer and closer.

His door opened all of a sudden when his mother came in.

"Sora! We have to get to the basement! A storm's coming!"

Sora was literally pulled out of his room by his mother and into the living room, until he realized something.

"Where's Dad?"

"He's helping the town get ready for the storm. Now, come on!"

"I have to help him!"

Sora let go of his mother's hand and ran out of the house.

"Sora! Come back!"

Sora ran out onto the road, trying not to let the wind pick him up and blow him away. People were boarding up their windows and doors to keep flying debris from crashing into their house. As he got closer to the beach, he noticed something else seemed different.

He looked up into the sky and noticed a giant orb in black and red colors. It seemed to be pulling in objects from the island that he played on. He ran back into town to tell his dad.

"Dad! Dad, where are you?"

"Sora?"

He found his dad running towards him after setting down some boards.

"What are you doing here, son?"

"I was coming to help you, Dad, and then I saw - "

"It's too dangerous for you. You have to go back home with your - "

His sentence was cut off as something had struck him from behind. He then fell forward disappearing, an orb of light in his place. It was then replaced by a dark creature that resembled a humanoid bug with long antennae. Shortly after, more creatures arrived and attacked the rest of the men. Sora ran away from the scene, trying to outrun the creatures.

Everywhere he went, he heard screams of terror and pain as the creatures attacked everyone. He kept running until he saw more of the creatures surrounding a boy.

"Riku?"

Riku looked to Sora.

"Sora!"

The creatures then lunged toward Riku, and they were all enveloped in an aura of darkness.

"Riku!"

Sora ran after them, but was held back by another figure. He kept struggling, but the grip was too tight.

"Wait, Sora! Wait!"

Sora stopped and turned to see a blue-haired woman, who seemed familiar to him.

"You…? What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to help. Come with me."

"But, what about my parents? And Riku?"

"You're mother's safe, Sora, but I can't help your father or Riku. I'm sorry. They're gone."

"But, they can't be. They just can't!"

Then, more of the dark creatures came out of nowhere and circled around them. The woman raised her weapon in the air, creating a blast of light to send the creatures flying back.

"Sora! We must go!"

More of the dark creatures surrounded them.

"There's no time," she said to herself.

She aimed her weapon at the ground and a portal opened up underneath them. They fell through into a whirlpool of light. However, as they went through, one of the creatures grabbed a hold of Sora's leg, causing him to fall out of Aqua's grip, before the light destroyed the creature. In the portal, Sora floated away screaming.

"Sora!" shouted the woman.

. . . . .

A boy woke with a start after resting on the ground. He was a teenage boy with black messy hair and blue-green eyes. He wore a white shirt and black pants, the clothes for his high school. He got up and looked around where he was. He was in an open area surrounded by a fence, a few trashcans, and a model of what appears to be a clock tower. The sun was setting under a horizon of hills in the distance.

"Another one bites the dust," he chuckled to himself.

The boy grabbed his schoolbag and headed down the path from Sunset Hill. He went through Sunset Terrace passing by the people, and up to the train station. Usually, he would go through the tunnelway to save some munny, but he liked riding the train when the evening sky was still visible. He went up to the ticket booth, where the booth person greeted him.

"Well, hello, Trevor. Another day of sight-seeing?"

"You know it. The sunsets never get old."

"Just like your father. Say hi to your mother for me."

"Will do, Wilfred."

After waiting for the next train, he got on and went to his seat to get a better view of the evening sky. He always liked to look at the sky at this time of day and get lost in its wonder. He kept thinking that something bigger than himself was out there and he wanted to get a better view of it. His eyes started to get heavy and he fell asleep.

. . . . .

He ran down the stairs in a hurry to find his father saying goodbye to his mother.

"Dad? What's going on?"

"There's something I have to take care of, son. I need to do this, for you and your mother."

"Let me come with you!"

"I can't. I need you to stay here and look after your mother. I wouldn't forgive myself if anything happened to both of you."

"But, Dad…"

"Trust me, son. I have to do this alone."

He hugged Trevor.

"I love you, son. When things turn dark, never give up."

He left and closed the door.

. . . . .

_"Now arriving at our final destination: Twilight Town. Watch your step and have a nice night."_

The voice on the intercom caused Trevor to awake from his sleep. He got out of his seat and exited the train. He left the train station to enter his hometown. As he walked down the road, he got a sinking suspicion he was being followed.

"Trevor, my man!"

He turns around to find a boy his age running up to him. He had short, spiky, brown hair that looked like it took too much hair gel to make it stick up and brown eyes.

"Hey, Seth."

"Where've you been?"

"Same place as always."

"Doesn't that get old?"

"Not really. Sunsets never change for me."

"You're a strange person, man."

"Says the guy who spent his entire allowance on a shell necklace at the beach."

"That was a genuine item!"

He hit Trevor in the shoulder, and the two of them chuckled.

"So, how's your little sister doing?" asked Trevor.

"Kaitlin? Can't complain. She has been feeling a bit under the weather these past few days."

"Like how?"

"I don't know, she screams in her sleep sometimes, but she was scared to tell me what it was. I try not to bring it up to her during the day, you know. Just to make her feel better."

"Good thinking. Sometimes ignorance is bliss."

. . . . .

_Ignorance is bliss. Yeah, right._

That's what Trevor thought to himself as he kept wondering about the dreams he had been having himself. Other than the ones about his father, he had been getting some vague images about something else; something involving a girl around his age. She was locked in a battle with someone else; a boy a bit younger than her carrying a strange weapon. In one scene, he sees her running up towards the boy. In another, she laid down on the ground, wounded. The boy was walking towards her as if he were a lion about to pounce on his prey. Then, in another scene, the boy was enveloped in an orb of light, the girl's voice shouting words Trevor could vaguely hear. Then, the orb disappeared and the girl was carried away by someone else...someone with...big round ears?

He didn't understand that last part, but he knew that those dreams were not ordinary. He should know, because they just came to him a few days ago, and they stuck to him since then. He didn't tell anyone else about them, and he planned to keep it that way. He decided to get his mind off the subject by reading up his astrology book. He was always interested in astrology, wandering about the stars and the great beyond that they reside in. His goal was to one day travel beyond the stars, but with the technology of his town, it would take a miracle to accomplish that goal.

He came across a section in the book about a group of stars with a legend. When seven of the brightest stars line up, it is said that whoever harnesses their power can be granted with one wish.

"Harness their power...how exactly?"

Before he could read any further, he noticed a bright light in the sky. He went to his telescope to see if it was a shooting star. For as long as he could remember, he always wanted to watch shooting stars. His parents noticed how infatuated he was with them, so they got him a telescope for his birthday.

He looked through the scope and saw the star. As he looked closely, he noticed that this star was different from the others he had seen. The object didn't look like a meteor or some other kind of space rock. It looked like…

"It can't be. That's impossible."

The star then fell toward Sunset Terrace and landed.

"This is Incredible! This could change the scientific community as we know it!"

He got his coat and a flashlight and ran outside, trying not to gain his mother's attention, to see what had landed.

. . . . .

He went through the tunnelway connecting his part of town and Sunset Terrace and looked around. After spotting the faded trail of the star, he went up to Sunset Hill. When he arrived, he saw that there was no star, but something entirely different.

"A little boy?"

Sure enough, it was a boy around 4 years old. He wore a white shirt, red shorts and flip-flops. Trevor especially noticed his spiky hair.

"Either his parents must've given him hair gel early, or Seth must be starting a trend. But, where's the star? I could've sworn that it landed around here. Unless…that shape…it's the same as…"

The boy slowly woke up, gaining Trevor's attention. His big blue eyes looked around in fear.

"Wh-where am I?"

"It's all right."

The boy looked in Trevor's direction.

"Who are you?"

"My name's Trevor. What's yours?"

"Sora."

"Okay. Sora. Where did you come from?"

"The last thing I remember is…Oh no! My home! My family! Riku!"

Sora got up and ran past Trevor, startling him.

"Hey! Wait!"

Sora ran out onto Sunset Terrace and stopped to look at his surroundings. He became more frightened at the place that is unfamiliar to him.

"What is this place?"

"Sora!"

Trevor ran to him.

"You shouldn't run off like that. Come with me. I'll explain what's happened."

. . . . .

Sora sat on Trevor's bed, while Trevor sat in his desk chair.

"Twilight Town?" asked Sora.

"Yes," said Trevor. "I'm sorry to say that this isn't your island home. What was it again?"

"Destiny Islands."

"Interesting. I've never heard of it before."

"It's a great place! The best fishermen live there catching these big fish," he gestured with his hands, "and there's this little island that my dad takes me to, along with - "

Sora remained silent.

"Your friend?" asked Trevor.

"Yeah. His name is Riku. We've been best friends for a long time. But, now - "

"What happened to your home?"

"I - I don't know. Some scary monsters attacked it and Riku disappeared. Then, this blue girl came along and saved me."

"Blue girl?"

"Yeah. She had a funny-looking sword and used it to scare the monsters away."

Trevor pondered this for a moment.

"A funny-looking sword, huh? I wonder…"

"What's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing. Listen. I'll explain to my mother what happened to you. I'm sure she'll let you stay, until we find your folks."

"Thank you."

"Don't mention it."

. . . . .

In a dark throne room, Xehanort and Braig were in the middle of a discussion.

"So, that boy got away, huh?" asked Braig. "Bummer."

"He will turn up again," said Xehanort. "That boy's light is small, but it will turn up."

"Speaking of kids, what's with the other one? The one the Heartless were chasing?"

"The person who gave you your scars, the one whose body I inhabit now…" Braig clenches his fists. "…performed the Keyblade passing ceremony onto him. He has the potential of being a Keyblade wielder. And I had sensed a darkness that was growing more than the others on that pitiful world. He could be of use to us."

"Why the Heck do we need him anyway? With your Keyblade, and my wits, we can become the head honchos of the worlds in no time."

"Ah, but I have a plan you see. He is the best friend of the one who got away. Amazing what one would do to help a friend. Don't you agree?"

"Shall I sniff out the little punk?"

"No matter. My other benefactor will be fulfilling her role soon. You should prepare for our next plan."

"Yes, sir."

As Braig left the room, Xehanort chuckled to himself.

"Splendid. My empire is on the horizon. When we retrieve the X-blade, my dream will be complete."

A/N: That's chapter 1! Things are getting interesting, aren't they? Well, if you have any comments, just R&R! Pretty shortly, I'll be getting to the worlds. If anyone has any favorites they like to see in this story, just type a list of them in your review or PM me (Whatever works.). I'll see what I can do with the requests, along with my personal choices. I'm trying to keep this Disney and Square Enix (along with Pixar) and keep the story in the original timeline of the KH series, so if the worlds you requested are first shown in KH1 or 2, the characters and original plot line of those worlds may change (i.e. age of characters and a new story). I'll be back with the next chapter!


End file.
